WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 Welcome back to the deep dive. Today we're going 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:06.000 to do something that might feel a little, well... 00:00:06.379 --> 00:00:08.839 A little counterintuitive. A bold strategy for 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:10.900 sure. We're going to take a subject that is, 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:13.800 let's be honest, often the punchline of office 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:16.839 jokes. A subject that most people associate with, 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:20.480 you know, boredom, bureaucracy, maybe a little 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:22.899 bit of fear. Oh, yeah. And we are going to try 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:25.500 to prove to you that it is actually one of the 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:28.760 most fascinating, complex, and surprisingly high 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.920 stakes machines running the entire modern world. 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.259 It's a tall order, but I think the source material 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:36.689 really, really supports it. it. We're basically 00:00:36.689 --> 00:00:39.409 walking into the one department that everyone 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.270 interacts with, but almost nobody actually understands. 00:00:42.549 --> 00:00:44.469 We are, of course, talking about human resource 00:00:44.469 --> 00:00:47.210 management or HRM. And look, I know what you're 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:49.170 probably thinking right now. I guess. You're 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:51.270 thinking about Toby Flenderson from The Office. 00:00:51.490 --> 00:00:54.350 You're thinking about that endless seminar on 00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:56.250 password security you had to sit through last 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:58.530 week. Or that awkward conversation about an expense 00:00:58.530 --> 00:01:01.170 report. Exactly. That slightly too expensive 00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:03.960 client dinner. We've all been there. The fun 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.579 police, the Department of, no, that's the reputation, 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:09.359 right? That is 100 % the reputation. But when 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:11.519 we started digging into this stack of sources, 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:13.780 and we have a really comprehensive overview here, 00:01:13.819 --> 00:01:15.900 it covers the history, the theory, the law, the 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:18.840 future of work, all of it. We realized that that 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:21.439 stereotype is just the tip of a massive iceberg. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.200 And beneath that surface level of, you know, 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:26.739 administrative annoyance, there is this huge 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:30.159 strategic engine. It's the operating system of 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.819 the organization. And that's really the mission. 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:35.959 of this deep dive today. We want to peel back 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:38.000 that layer of bureaucracy and really understand 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.659 how the management of people evolved. Because 00:01:40.659 --> 00:01:42.980 it didn't just start with someone deciding to 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:46.159 annoy you with paperwork. It evolved from a very 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.200 real. very pressing need to organize human effort 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.019 on a massive scale. It's a field that sits right 00:01:53.019 --> 00:01:56.340 at the intersection of psychology, law, high 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:59.579 -level business strategy, and increasingly advanced 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:01.700 data science. And the history is wild. That was 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:03.400 the hook for me. I was expecting to read about 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:05.519 filing cabinets and payroll ledgers. Some boring 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.879 stuff. The boring stuff. Instead, I found connections 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:11.039 to the Industrial Revolution. Okay, that makes 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:14.500 sense. But also to World War I shell shock. Right. 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:16.800 And the Soviet Union. That's the one. That's 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:18.439 the one that usually catches people off guard. 00:02:18.939 --> 00:02:21.719 The lineage of the modern HR department traces 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:25.139 back to some very, very unexpected places, including, 00:02:25.300 --> 00:02:28.060 yes, the political control strategies of the 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:29.780 Bolshevik Party. We are definitely going to get 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:32.680 into that because the idea that Stalin and your 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:35.699 friendly HR rep somehow share a professional 00:02:35.699 --> 00:02:37.699 lineage is something we absolutely have to unpack. 00:02:37.979 --> 00:02:40.699 We do. But let's start at the beginning or rather 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:42.639 let's start with a definition before we look 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.349 at where it came from. What are we actually looking 00:02:45.349 --> 00:02:48.389 at? When we say human resource management, what 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:51.530 does the text actually define that as? So if 00:02:51.530 --> 00:02:54.210 we strip away all the corporate jargon, the core 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:56.289 definition from the source material is actually 00:02:56.289 --> 00:02:58.969 quite specific and I think quite powerful. Okay. 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:02.430 HRM is defined as the strategic and coherent 00:03:02.430 --> 00:03:05.030 approach to the effective management of people 00:03:05.030 --> 00:03:08.349 in a company or organization. Strategic and coherent. 00:03:08.969 --> 00:03:11.030 I like those words. It implies it's not just 00:03:11.030 --> 00:03:13.409 random. It's not just fixing problems as they 00:03:13.409 --> 00:03:16.409 pop up. It's a system. It's a design system. 00:03:16.810 --> 00:03:20.150 And the definition goes on to say that the goal 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:23.590 is to help the business gain a competitive advantage. 00:03:23.870 --> 00:03:26.729 Right. The whole point is to maximize employee 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:29.990 performance in service of the employer's strategic 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:32.810 objectives. I want to pause on that for a second 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:34.740 because I think it. clarifies a misconception 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:38.180 a lot of people have. The goal of H .R. isn't 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:40.340 necessarily first and foremost to make sure you 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:43.639 the employee are happy or having a great time. 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:46.139 No. That might be a means to an end, but it's 00:03:46.139 --> 00:03:48.219 not the primary goal. The primary goal is to 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:50.300 make sure you are performing in a way that helps 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:52.259 the company win. That is the fundamental truth 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:54.639 of the field. And it creates this inherent tension, 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:56.900 right? It's all about aligning the human element, 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.659 the people, with their emotions, their bad days, 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:02.419 their ambitions, their whole messy lives with 00:04:02.419 --> 00:04:05.639 the cold, hard, strategic goals of the entity. 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:07.900 It's the bridge. It is. It's the bridge between 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.319 the human being and the balance sheet. So, okay, 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:13.389 let's go back in time. Because this idea of strategic 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:16.149 alignment, it didn't just appear out of nowhere. 00:04:16.269 --> 00:04:18.089 If you go back far enough, you didn't have HR. 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.250 You had, what, a master and an apprentice? A 00:04:21.250 --> 00:04:24.550 lord and a serf. A foreman and a crew. Where 00:04:24.550 --> 00:04:27.930 does the science of this, the management of it, 00:04:27.990 --> 00:04:30.449 actually begin? Well, to see the real roots, 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:32.509 you have to go back to the 19th century. You 00:04:32.509 --> 00:04:33.930 have to go back to the Industrial Revolution. 00:04:34.069 --> 00:04:36.949 The era of smokestacks, steam engines, and some 00:04:36.949 --> 00:04:39.490 really, really dangerous working conditions. 00:04:39.790 --> 00:04:42.670 Precisely. You have to imagine the context. You 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:45.129 have millions of people moving from these agrarian 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:48.449 lives, you know, farms, small villages, predictable 00:04:48.449 --> 00:04:52.910 rhythms, into these massive, loud, dangerous, 00:04:53.089 --> 00:04:55.250 frankly terrifying factories. And initially, 00:04:55.290 --> 00:04:57.509 the management philosophy was very, very simple, 00:04:57.569 --> 00:04:59.689 wasn't it? Oh, incredibly simple. Labor is an 00:04:59.689 --> 00:05:02.879 input, like coal. Like steel. You buy it, you 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.939 use it up, and if it breaks, you just get more. 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:07.759 It was disposable. Completely. But the source 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.839 material highlights a couple of pioneers who 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:12.660 started to think differently. Robert Owen and 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:15.500 Charles Babbage. Babbage. Wait, isn't that the 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:17.740 computer guy? The difference engine? The very 00:05:17.740 --> 00:05:22.420 same. He was a true polymath. Both he and Owen 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:25.399 looked at this industrial chaos and realized 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:28.040 a simple but at the time revolutionary pragmatic 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.980 truth. Which was? They concluded that people 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:33.920 were absolutely crucial to the success of an 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.060 organization. Which again, it sounds so obvious 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:39.300 to us now in 2026, people are important, duh. 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:41.759 But you're saying back then that was a radical 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.319 disruptive idea. It was revolutionary. I mean, 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.000 Owen and Babbage actually expressed the thought 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.040 that the well -being of employees led to what 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.120 they call perfect work. Perfect work. Yeah. They 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:53.920 realized that if you grind your workers into 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.319 dust, if you burn them out, your machines stop 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:59.139 running. Without healthy workers, the organization 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:02.040 essentially dies. So it wasn't necessarily coming 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:04.740 from a place of pure charity or, you know, bleeding 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:06.759 heart altruism. Not at all. It was a business 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:09.540 decision. It was, hey, let's not break our most 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:11.420 important tool. It was a pragmatic realization 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:14.180 of sustainability. It's just good business. If 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:16.339 you want the factory to run for 10 years, you 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:18.300 can't kill your entire workforce in 10 months. 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:21.709 Except... And interestingly, the term human resource 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:24.930 itself, that specific phrase, was coined by a 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:28.529 labor economist named John R. Commons way, way 00:06:28.529 --> 00:06:32.769 back in 1893. 1893. Wow. I didn't realize the 00:06:32.769 --> 00:06:34.350 terminology was that old. I would have guessed 00:06:34.350 --> 00:06:37.930 it was some like 1980s corporate buzzword. It 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:40.449 feels modern, doesn't it? Yeah. But the concept 00:06:40.449 --> 00:06:43.209 has been percolating for well over a century. 00:06:43.840 --> 00:06:47.019 However, the field, as we'd recognize it, with 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:49.240 the systems, the measurements, the science, that 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:51.639 really started to take shape in the early 20th 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:53.319 century. And this brings us to the efficiency 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:56.160 era. Right. And you cannot talk about this history 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:57.980 without talking about one man in particular, 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:01.079 Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylorism. Scientific 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:03.279 management. Even if people don't know the name, 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.079 they know the vibe. This is the guy with the 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:08.220 stopwatch. That is the iconic image, 100%. Taylor 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.680 was an engineer who was absolutely obsessed with 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:13.339 economic efficiency, particularly in manufacturing. 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:15.980 So what was his core idea? He looked at labor 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:18.959 as a principal input that could be optimized 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:22.439 mathematically. He didn't see a craftsman. He 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:24.959 saw a series of physical movements that took 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.100 X amount of time and consumed Y amount of energy. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:31.430 I always imagine this as a just... terrifying 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:33.370 work environment you're trying to assemble a 00:07:33.370 --> 00:07:35.889 widget and there's a guy standing six inches 00:07:35.889 --> 00:07:38.970 behind you clicking a stopwatch writing down 00:07:38.970 --> 00:07:42.129 that you took 0 .4 seconds too long to pick up 00:07:42.129 --> 00:07:44.670 your wrench it was incredibly intense he broke 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:47.189 every single task down to its most atomic level 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:50.529 pick up shovel lift shovel throw coal he wanted 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:54.029 to find the one best way to do every single task 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:57.459 to eliminate all wasted motion so this was really 00:07:57.459 --> 00:08:00.259 the peak of treating the human being like a machine 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.240 exactly yeah and it sparked a massive inquiry 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:05.579 into workforce productivity but the key thing 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:07.399 here is that the focus was entirely on the body 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.040 it was about muscles leverage and time it treated 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:12.939 the human element something to be tuned like 00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:15.360 an engine no psychology yet zero psychology it 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:16.860 was just physics and that works for a machine 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:19.540 right you can tune a car engine but humans are 00:08:19.930 --> 00:08:22.009 Well, they're messier. So much messier. And the 00:08:22.009 --> 00:08:24.610 source material says the next big shift, the 00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:28.129 pivot to psychology, came from a very, very dark 00:08:28.129 --> 00:08:30.850 place. It did. The text points directly to World 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:33.269 War I as the catalyst. The Great War. Right. 00:08:33.429 --> 00:08:35.629 And we have to look at a man named C .S. Myers. 00:08:36.330 --> 00:08:39.929 In 1921, so right after the war, he co -founded 00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:42.090 the National Institute of Industrial Psychology. 00:08:42.090 --> 00:08:44.590 And this wasn't just some academic curiosity. 00:08:44.610 --> 00:08:47.909 This was a response to a crisis. A huge crisis. 00:08:48.830 --> 00:08:50.610 The military and the government were dealing 00:08:50.610 --> 00:08:53.230 with these unexpected problems, specifically 00:08:53.230 --> 00:08:56.230 shell shock among soldiers. What we would now 00:08:56.230 --> 00:09:00.049 call PTSD. Right. But at the time, it was baffling 00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:01.690 to the generals. I mean, they had these young 00:09:01.690 --> 00:09:04.090 men who were physically fit. Their muscles worked. 00:09:04.190 --> 00:09:06.470 Their hearts were strong. But they were completely 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:08.850 breaking down. They couldn't follow orders. They 00:09:08.850 --> 00:09:10.769 couldn't function. So the Taylorism approach 00:09:10.769 --> 00:09:13.710 failed them completely. The machine was physically 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:17.570 fine, but it just wouldn't run. Exactly. It forced 00:09:17.570 --> 00:09:19.730 the establishment to realize that you cannot 00:09:19.730 --> 00:09:23.110 just treat a human like a cog in a machine. If 00:09:23.110 --> 00:09:25.649 you push them too hard or expose them to too 00:09:25.649 --> 00:09:28.769 much stress, the machinery breaks in ways that 00:09:28.769 --> 00:09:31.690 are psychological, not just physical. And this 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:34.990 realization that the mind is a massive factor 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:38.259 in performance. It bled from the military right 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:40.580 into the industrial world. That is a fascinating 00:09:40.580 --> 00:09:43.299 connection. So the factory owners essentially 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:45.340 looked at the generals and said, wait a minute, 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:47.720 if mental stress breaks a soldier, does it also 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:50.759 break an assembly line worker? That's the question 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:52.940 that birthed the next era of management theory. 00:09:53.179 --> 00:09:55.919 And it leads us directly to the most famous study 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.259 in the history of this entire field. Ah, I know 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:00.080 this one. If you've ever taken a Psych 101 class, 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:02.460 you definitely know this one. The Hawthorne Studies. 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:05.990 1924 to 1932, the Western Electric Company. Led 00:10:05.990 --> 00:10:09.250 by a researcher named Elton Mayo. Now, interestingly, 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:11.950 they started out trying to do a very Taylor -style 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:13.889 study. They were looking at physical conditions, 00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:17.309 specifically lighting. Right. The simple question 00:10:17.309 --> 00:10:19.389 was, if we make the lights brighter, will the 00:10:19.389 --> 00:10:21.570 workers assemble more telephones? That was the 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.110 hypothesis. Better light equals better work. 00:10:24.769 --> 00:10:27.049 So they went in, they brightened the lights, 00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:30.830 and productivity went up. Success! Science works. 00:10:31.090 --> 00:10:33.210 But then, just to be sure, to check their work, 00:10:33.289 --> 00:10:35.549 they dimmed the lights. They made it darker. 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:38.090 And productivity went up again. They couldn't 00:10:38.090 --> 00:10:40.509 lose. That's amazing. They changed the break 00:10:40.509 --> 00:10:42.549 times. Productivity went up. They changed the 00:10:42.549 --> 00:10:44.529 break times back to normal. Productivity went 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:46.750 up. Okay, so they realized it wasn't the lights. 00:10:46.850 --> 00:10:49.929 It wasn't the breaks. It was something else entirely. 00:10:50.509 --> 00:10:53.289 Exactly. They found something much... much more 00:10:53.289 --> 00:10:56.730 profound. The researchers discovered that stimuli 00:10:56.730 --> 00:10:59.669 unrelated to money or working conditions, things 00:10:59.669 --> 00:11:01.950 like simply receiving attention or the social 00:11:01.950 --> 00:11:04.690 dynamics of being in a special test group, made 00:11:04.690 --> 00:11:07.450 the workers more productive. The aha moment. 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:09.830 Just the fact that someone was paying attention 00:11:09.830 --> 00:11:11.649 to them, that someone cared enough to measure 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:13.950 their work, made them work harder. They felt 00:11:13.950 --> 00:11:17.169 seen. It was a bombshell. And it birthed what 00:11:17.169 --> 00:11:19.870 we now call... The human relations movement. 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:23.129 It shifted the entire paradigm. Suddenly, managers 00:11:23.129 --> 00:11:25.149 realized they aren't just managing muscles and 00:11:25.149 --> 00:11:27.649 notion. They're managing motivation, group dynamics, 00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:30.370 social needs, feelings. It's almost like they 00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:33.629 discovered that workers were people. Or at least 00:11:33.629 --> 00:11:35.730 that treating them like people was more profitable. 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:38.970 And this discovery opened the floodgates for 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:41.769 the heavy hitters of sociology and psychology 00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:45.909 to enter the field. Like who? Oh. Abraham Maslow 00:11:45.909 --> 00:11:47.809 with his hierarchy of needs, Kurt Lewin, Max 00:11:47.809 --> 00:11:50.149 Weber. They're the ones who really moved the 00:11:50.149 --> 00:11:52.330 field into what we call organizational behavior. 00:11:52.929 --> 00:11:55.330 It became about understanding what makes a human 00:11:55.330 --> 00:11:57.169 tick so you can make them tick more efficiently 00:11:57.169 --> 00:11:59.509 for the company. OK, so we've got the factories, 00:11:59.610 --> 00:12:01.950 we have the war, we have the psychologists. Now 00:12:01.950 --> 00:12:03.970 we have to talk about the Soviet Union because 00:12:03.970 --> 00:12:05.750 I'm looking at my notes here and under the heading 00:12:05.750 --> 00:12:09.429 The Origins of HR, I did not expect to see the 00:12:09.429 --> 00:12:12.039 Bolshevik Party. This is the surprising fact 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.519 of the episode for sure. The source material 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:17.860 draws a very direct and kind of unsettling parallel 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:21.779 between modern HR structures and the Orgboro 00:12:21.779 --> 00:12:25.360 of the Soviet Union. The Orgboro. It sounds like 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:28.120 a villain organization in a spy movie. It does, 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:30.259 doesn't it? It stands for the Organizational 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:33.720 Bureau. It was created in 1919. And if you look 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:35.840 at its function, it was, for all intents and 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.700 purposes, a massive... centralized HR department 00:12:39.700 --> 00:12:42.120 for the Communist Party. And what was its job? 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.639 What was it doing? Its job was to allocate the 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:48.200 party's human resources. OK. It used patronage 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:50.639 to place people in positions of power, influence 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.360 and control across the entire Soviet apparatus. 00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:56.340 Patronage basically means I give you a job, you 00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:58.460 give me your loyalty. Exactly. It's the absolute 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.399 currency of political power. And the source notes 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.120 that Stalin himself was acutely aware of the 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:06.740 importance of human resources. He has a quote 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:08.440 in the text that is really striking. What's the 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:10.879 quote? He said, cadres are the most precious 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:13.700 and decisive capital. Cadres, that's a very specific, 00:13:13.940 --> 00:13:16.659 very military sounding term. It refers to the 00:13:16.659 --> 00:13:20.360 core group of trained, loyal personnel, the leadership. 00:13:21.019 --> 00:13:23.919 Stalin understood that money, factories, armies, 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.419 they were all useless if you didn't have the 00:13:26.419 --> 00:13:28.620 right people running them. People who were completely 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:30.879 and totally loyal to the mission. That sounds 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.759 uncomfortably similar to a modern CEO giving 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:35.940 a speech and saying, you know, our people are 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:38.679 our greatest asset. It's the exact same logic. 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:41.419 It is the recognition that the human element 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:44.779 is the decisive factor in any large -scale enterprise. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:47.340 But of course, because it's the Soviet Union 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:50.059 under Stalin, this logic goes to a horrifying 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:53.580 dark extreme. The gulag. Right. The source references 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:56.059 the five -year plans and the gulag system as 00:13:56.059 --> 00:13:58.600 dark examples of the mass deployment of this 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.059 human resource. It's a chilling parallel. It 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:03.419 really shows that HRM, the science of managing 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:06.559 people, is a tool. And like any tool, it's morally 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:08.279 necessary. neutral. Absolutely. You can use it 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:11.159 to build a thriving, happy company culture, or 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:13.460 you can use it to run a forced labor camp. It's 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:16.240 all about the objective. And it highlights the 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.720 extreme power that is inherent in these systems. 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:21.919 When you view humans purely as capital to be 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.480 allocated, you can achieve massive efficiency, 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.480 but you risk stripping away their humanity entirely. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.460 So let's step back from the edge of that abyss 00:14:30.460 --> 00:14:32.639 and look at how this professionalized in the 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:35.379 West. We went from these welfare workers in the 00:14:35.379 --> 00:14:38.580 19th century to industrial relations in the mid 00:14:38.580 --> 00:14:40.879 -20th century. Right. And the industrial relations 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.460 era was really defined by one major development, 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:46.679 the rise of unions. Okay. That makes sense. Suddenly 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:48.460 the boss couldn't just dictate terms anymore. 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:51.299 Nope. They needed a specialist. They needed someone 00:14:51.299 --> 00:14:53.879 to sit down at a table and negotiate with an 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.480 organized workforce. A diplomat, basically. A 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.240 diplomat, a negotiator, a specialist in labor 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:01.519 law. And this is when we saw the establishment 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.889 of major professional bodies. The CIPD in England 00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:08.190 started way back in 1913. Cornell opened its 00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:10.149 famous School of Industrial and Labor Relations 00:15:10.149 --> 00:15:14.629 in 1945. And the big one here in the U .S., SHRM. 00:15:14.690 --> 00:15:17.529 The Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM, 00:15:17.529 --> 00:15:20.110 formed in 1948. It's the largest professional 00:15:20.110 --> 00:15:23.090 HR association in the world. So is that where 00:15:23.090 --> 00:15:26.340 the modern name comes from? Not quite yet. There 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:28.899 was a bit of a terminological split. In the U 00:15:28.899 --> 00:15:31.639 .S., the phrase industrial and labor relations 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:34.559 came to mean specifically working with unions. 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:37.480 I see. So the internal management of people hiring, 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:40.620 firing, payroll, the day -to -day stuff, that 00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:43.460 was called personnel administration. Personnel. 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:45.740 It just sounds so bureaucratic. It sounds like 00:15:45.740 --> 00:15:48.159 a room full of people in gray suits smoking cigarettes 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.159 and stamping forms. It has that vibe, doesn't 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:53.259 it? It feels very administrative, very paper 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:56.559 pushery. But then in the 1980s and 90s, another 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:58.960 huge shift happened. Globalization. Globalization. 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:01.779 Transportation and communication improved dramatically. 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:04.460 The world got smaller and companies started viewing 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.960 their employees not just as cost to be controlled, 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:10.139 but as assets to be invested in. And thus personnel 00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:12.340 officially became human resource management. 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.220 Exactly. It signaled a major shift in thinking. 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:18.259 You manage a resource. You invest in an asset. 00:16:18.669 --> 00:16:21.269 It is a conscious attempt to elevate the function 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.850 from administrative paper pushing to a strategic 00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:26.529 partner in the business. So that brings us pretty 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:28.690 much to the present day. We know the history. 00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.110 We know the theory. But let's get practical. 00:16:31.309 --> 00:16:33.970 If I walk into the HR office of a Fortune 500 00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:36.269 company today, what are they actually doing all 00:16:36.269 --> 00:16:38.350 day? Well, the source material references the 00:16:38.350 --> 00:16:40.539 Dave Ulrich model. which is a pretty standard 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:42.259 framework in the industry. It's a good way to 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:44.460 think about it. He breaks it down into three 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:46.620 main functions. OK, lay them on me. What's the 00:16:46.620 --> 00:16:49.779 first one? First and most importantly, aligning 00:16:49.779 --> 00:16:52.259 HR strategy and metrics with the overall business 00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:54.220 strategy. This goes right back to what we said 00:16:54.220 --> 00:16:56.360 at the start. If the business wants to expand 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.299 into Asia, HR's job is to figure out a plan to 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:04.039 hire people in Asia. Exactly. HR cannot be an 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.599 island. It has to be steered by the goals of 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:09.779 the business. Number two is reengineering organizational 00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:13.000 processes. OK, so making the machine run smoother, 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.259 improving workflows, communication, that kind 00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:18.119 of thing. Yep. And the third function is listening 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:21.180 and responding to employees and managing change. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.799 That's the people part. That's the soft skills, 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.099 the human relations movement legacy. It is, but 00:17:27.099 --> 00:17:29.380 it's absolutely critical. Now, if we look at 00:17:29.380 --> 00:17:32.019 the specific buckets of work, it gets even more 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:35.460 granular. You have, for example, staffing. Recruitment, 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.779 hiring people. Yes, but the text makes a point 00:17:38.779 --> 00:17:41.819 to use the term talent acquisition. It's not 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:43.920 just about posting an ad on a job board and hoping 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:46.279 for the best. It's more proactive. Much more. 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:49.079 It's long -term planning. It's about hunting 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:51.500 for the specific skills the company's going to 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:53.980 need in five years, not just the skills it needs 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:56.599 today. Okay, what's another bucket? Training 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:58.519 and development. Continuous improvement. Right. 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.380 And the expert note here is that motivation is 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:04.200 key. You keep employees productive and engaged 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:06.819 through rewards, performance appraisals, and 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:08.960 ongoing training. You're constantly upgrading 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.319 the machine. Then there's maintenance, which 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:13.500 I have to say makes employees sound like used 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:16.420 cars. It does have that ring to it, but in a 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:19.559 way it is similar. It's about retention. Keeping 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.039 loyalty high. Preventing your top talent from 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:23.960 leaving. What does that involve? It includes 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:26.880 things like mobility management. which is handling 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:29.539 expatriates who move to different countries for 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:31.599 the firm and diversity and inclusion management, 00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:34.819 which is crucial for global teams. And of course, 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:36.720 the big one that everyone really cares about, 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:40.480 compensation and benefits. The paycheck. This 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.119 is all about designing the packages. The pay, 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:46.640 the parental leaves, stock options, health insurance, 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:49.579 gym memberships. This is the carrot. The primary 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:52.099 tool for attracting and retaining talent. For 00:18:52.099 --> 00:18:54.660 sure. And finally, you have performance management. 00:18:55.159 --> 00:18:58.740 So? The stick. Or the calibration. I like to 00:18:58.740 --> 00:19:00.799 think of it as calibration. This is the system 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.240 that's supposed to align an individual employee's 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:06.119 output with the company's strategic goals. And 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:08.279 how do they think about that? It's often calculated 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:11.559 as a function of three things. Ability, motivation, 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:14.519 and opportunity. Does the employee have the skills? 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.539 Do they have the drive? And does the company 00:19:17.539 --> 00:19:19.440 provide the environment for them to succeed? 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:21.519 There is a concept in the text that really stood 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.160 out to me. It's a word I hadn't heard before. 00:19:23.849 --> 00:19:27.069 Unitarism. Ah, yes. It sounds a bit like a cult. 00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:30.109 What is it? It's a philosophical goal of HR in 00:19:30.109 --> 00:19:33.450 many organizations. Unitarism is the idea of 00:19:33.450 --> 00:19:36.230 seeing the company as a cohesive whole, like 00:19:36.230 --> 00:19:38.630 a family or a team. We're all in the same boat, 00:19:38.769 --> 00:19:40.910 rowing in the same direction. That's the idea, 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:43.750 exactly. The theory is that employers and employees 00:19:43.750 --> 00:19:46.450 should work together for a common good. HR's 00:19:46.450 --> 00:19:49.630 job under this philosophy is to secure that long 00:19:49.630 --> 00:19:51.950 -term partnership and build that sense of shared 00:19:51.950 --> 00:19:54.690 purpose. It's designed to counter the idea that 00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:57.269 workers and bosses are natural enemies who are 00:19:57.269 --> 00:19:59.170 always fighting over the pie. Precisely. Which 00:19:59.170 --> 00:20:02.640 is a nice idea, a really nice idea. Let's be 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:04.279 honest, sometimes they are enemies, or at least 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:06.160 they have opposing interests. Yeah. The boss 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.140 wants to pay less. The worker wants to get paid 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.660 more. That conflict is real. And that brings 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:13.279 us perfectly to the next section, the legal landscape. 00:20:13.619 --> 00:20:16.599 Or, as I like to call it, HR as risk management. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.500 The source says a huge part of what HR does is 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:21.599 just keeping the company out of court. It is 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.599 massive. In the modern world, HR is the shield. 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:27.789 The text highlights what it calls the big four 00:20:27.789 --> 00:20:31.130 U .S. federal laws that every single HR manager 00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:33.529 has etched into their brain. OK, let's run through 00:20:33.529 --> 00:20:36.430 them because these laws basically define our 00:20:36.430 --> 00:20:39.029 working lives in America. For sure. Number one 00:20:39.029 --> 00:20:41.650 is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. What 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:43.450 did that give us? This is the one that gave us 00:20:43.450 --> 00:20:45.470 the minimum wage and overtime pay. So before 00:20:45.470 --> 00:20:48.829 1938, it was just whatever the boss felt like 00:20:48.829 --> 00:20:51.920 paying you. Pretty much. And for however many 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:54.880 hours they wanted you to work, this law established 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.920 the floor, a foundational protection. Okay, number 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.339 two. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:03.839 1972. This is the big anti -discrimination law. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.680 Right. It prohibits discrimination based on race, 00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:10.490 color. Religion, sex or age. This is the one 00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:12.869 that really fundamentally changed the face of 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:15.230 the American workplace. Absolutely. The number 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:17.609 three, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 00:21:17.609 --> 00:21:21.609 or FMLA. I know this one. This guarantees 12 00:21:21.609 --> 00:21:24.690 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical reasons 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:26.930 without losing your job. Exactly. So you can 00:21:26.930 --> 00:21:30.380 have a baby or get seriously ill. Or care for 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:32.339 a sick parent without being immediately fired. 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:34.799 A huge deal for working families. And what's 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:37.799 number four? Number four is the Immigration Reform 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:41.599 and Control Act. This requires employers to verify 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.700 that their employees are legally eligible to 00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:47.279 work in the U .S. The I -9 form. That's the one. 00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:50.240 And it creates a very delicate balance for HR. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.720 They have to obey this law, but they also have 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.019 to avoid discriminating against people based 00:21:55.019 --> 00:21:57.740 on their citizenship. or national origin. It 00:21:57.740 --> 00:22:00.160 sounds like walking a legal tightrope every single 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.559 day. It is. And on top of all that, remember, 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.099 HR also serves as the liaison with labor unions 00:22:06.099 --> 00:22:08.619 where they exist. Right. And the source also 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:11.920 mentions that HR industry groups often lobby 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.339 government agencies like the Department of Labor 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:16.839 to advance their priorities. So they aren't just 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:18.700 following the rules. They are actively trying 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:20.880 to help write them. They are active players in 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.960 the political game. Absolutely. Now let's shift 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.799 gears. We've talked about the past, but we are 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.460 living in the future. How has technology just 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:30.140 completely changed the game? The source has a 00:22:30.140 --> 00:22:32.980 whole section on modern HR practices. The digital 00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:35.140 transformation has been total. It's touched every 00:22:35.140 --> 00:22:36.859 single function we've talked about. Just think 00:22:36.859 --> 00:22:39.519 about e -recruiting. Right. Gone are the days 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:41.700 of circling ads in the Sunday newspaper with 00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:45.539 a red pin. Completely. We move from that to global 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:49.220 automated applicant tracking systems. The benefit 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:52.339 is obvious. You have access to a talent pool. 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:54.819 Of millions of people. And you can centralize 00:22:54.819 --> 00:22:57.180 everything. Everything. Background checks, drug 00:22:57.180 --> 00:22:59.819 tests, initial screenings. It's all in one system. 00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.660 And the result really is that geographic limitations 00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:05.700 are basically gone. You can hire the best person 00:23:05.700 --> 00:23:07.799 for a remote job, whether they're in New York 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:10.140 or New Zealand. Yep. And then you have HRIS, 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:13.099 Human Resources Information Systems. The digital 00:23:13.099 --> 00:23:15.200 file cabinet. But it's so much more than that. 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:18.039 It's the move from these vast rooms full of physical 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:20.940 paper files to digital databases that are accessible 00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:23.940 in seconds. And this is what enables the really 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:27.940 big modern trend, HR analytics. Using big data 00:23:27.940 --> 00:23:30.059 to manage people. That's it. You can analyze 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:32.839 trends across thousands or hundreds of thousands 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:35.519 of employees instantly. You can spot patterns 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:37.839 in things like attrition or performance that 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:39.640 a human being would never be able to see. And 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:42.460 that leads directly to virtual management. Right. 00:23:42.539 --> 00:23:44.279 We're seeing this everywhere now with the rise 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:46.460 of remote work. The capabilities are pretty impressive. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.579 You can onboard and train new employees without 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:51.279 ever meeting them face to face. That feels a 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.180 little, I don't know, a little cold, doesn't 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:55.460 it? Getting hired, trained and managed entirely 00:23:55.460 --> 00:23:58.000 by a screen. It can be. There's definitely a 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.559 risk of it feeling impersonal. But the source 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.359 points out the employee benefit, too. Greater 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.519 control over your work -life balance and your 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.880 own learning pace. You can do your training modules 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.019 at midnight if that's what works for you. True. 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:13.240 And this tech also allows for this incredible 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:16.299 data prediction. The source says they can now 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:19.640 predict turnover risk. Yeah. That means the computer 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.000 can essentially raise a flag and tell the boss, 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:25.640 hey, based on the data, Bob is 80 % likely to 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:28.019 quit in the next three months. That is wild. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.769 How? How does it know? Well, it looks at the 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:33.650 data patterns. Is Bob engaging less in team chats? 00:24:33.950 --> 00:24:36.289 Is he logging in later than usual? Did he just 00:24:36.289 --> 00:24:38.269 update his LinkedIn profile and connect with 00:24:38.269 --> 00:24:40.710 a bunch of recruiters? The AI sees all of that. 00:24:40.890 --> 00:24:43.990 That is both incredible and also slightly terrifying. 00:24:44.069 --> 00:24:46.750 It's like predictive policing for your job. It's 00:24:46.750 --> 00:24:49.930 a very fine line. We also see brand new business 00:24:49.930 --> 00:24:52.950 models emerging because of this tech. Like the 00:24:52.950 --> 00:24:55.890 employer of record or EOR. What exactly is that? 00:24:56.109 --> 00:24:58.069 It's where a third party company becomes the 00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:00.529 legal employer of your staff. They handle all 00:25:00.529 --> 00:25:02.490 the taxes, the payroll, the legal compliance. 00:25:02.970 --> 00:25:06.609 But you, the client, the actual company, manage 00:25:06.609 --> 00:25:08.890 the day to day work. Oh, I see. So if I'm a startup, 00:25:09.049 --> 00:25:11.869 I don't need to hire a full time HR person right 00:25:11.869 --> 00:25:14.930 away. I can just hire an EOR to handle all the 00:25:14.930 --> 00:25:17.309 boring administrative stuff and I can focus on 00:25:17.309 --> 00:25:19.289 building my product. Exactly. It allows companies 00:25:19.289 --> 00:25:21.490 to focus on their core business rather than on 00:25:21.490 --> 00:25:24.059 administration. And then, of course, you have 00:25:24.059 --> 00:25:26.700 specialized HRM consultancies, private firms 00:25:26.700 --> 00:25:28.880 that you can hire to come in and just design 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:31.099 your compensation framework or your recruitment 00:25:31.099 --> 00:25:34.140 strategy for a fee. It really is a massive, complex 00:25:34.140 --> 00:25:36.420 industry. But despite all this sophistication, 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.079 all this tech and all this history, HR has a 00:25:39.079 --> 00:25:41.440 bit of a reputation problem. You could say that. 00:25:41.789 --> 00:25:45.289 The villain trope? The in popular media section 00:25:45.289 --> 00:25:47.750 of the source material is honestly hilarious. 00:25:48.210 --> 00:25:51.910 It lists some very famous, very pointed examples. 00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:54.650 Who stands out to you the most? Well, you have 00:25:54.650 --> 00:25:56.450 to start with Toby Flenderson from The Office. 00:25:56.730 --> 00:25:59.230 He's the archetype. The ultimate nag. He's the 00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:02.230 fun police. He is the living embodiment of policy 00:26:02.230 --> 00:26:04.809 and procedure. Michael Scott hates him with the 00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:07.289 fire of a thousand suns because he represents 00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:10.109 the rules. He represents the word no. And then 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:12.180 you have Cat Burt. from the Dilbert comic strip. 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:14.900 Oh, that's a much darker version. The evil director 00:26:14.900 --> 00:26:18.039 of human resources. He literally designed sadistic 00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:20.019 policies just to make the employees miserable. 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:23.160 He feeds on their suffering. And then on a more 00:26:23.160 --> 00:26:25.400 serious, more dramatic note, there's the film 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:27.779 Up in the Air. Right. With George Clooney as 00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:29.980 the professional downsizer, his job is to fly 00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:32.079 around the country and fire people. In that movie, 00:26:32.180 --> 00:26:35.000 HR is portrayed as this incredibly cold, data 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.539 -driven function. People are just metrics on 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:39.940 a spreadsheet to be cut to save money. And it 00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:42.079 leads to the these absurd and ultimately tragic 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:46.160 outcomes for real human beings. So why this reputation? 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:49.500 Why is the HR person so often the bad guy in 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:51.960 our stories? I think it comes right back to that 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:53.700 fundamental tension we talked about at the very 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:55.839 start. The tension between the administrative 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.539 and compliance role, the Toby role, the rule 00:26:58.539 --> 00:27:01.759 enforcer, and the strategic, human -focused role. 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:03.700 They're the ones who have to say no. They're 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:05.759 the ones who have to enforce the rules that nobody 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.500 likes, even if they're necessary. Exactly. And 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:10.569 as we see in a film like... up in the air. When 00:27:10.569 --> 00:27:13.470 HR becomes purely data driven, when it loses 00:27:13.470 --> 00:27:16.849 sight of the individual, it risks losing the 00:27:16.849 --> 00:27:20.490 human in human resources. It just becomes resource 00:27:20.490 --> 00:27:23.109 management. Which is a perfect segue to the serious 00:27:23.109 --> 00:27:26.710 stuff, to ethics. Because if you are managing 00:27:26.710 --> 00:27:29.670 people's livelihoods, their careers, their well 00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:32.559 -being. You need a code. You can't just be catbird. 00:27:32.660 --> 00:27:35.380 And there is one, a very explicit one. The source 00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:38.640 outlines the key ethical duties that HR professionals 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:41.140 must uphold. What are the main pillars of that 00:27:41.140 --> 00:27:43.500 code? There are four. First, there are duties 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:45.960 to the public. You have to act lawfully and ethically. 00:27:46.259 --> 00:27:48.059 Don't cover up crimes to the company. Right. 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:50.640 Don't help the company dump toxic waste and then 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:53.460 lie about it. Second, duties to the profession. 00:27:53.950 --> 00:27:57.470 You have to uphold the reputation of HR. Be professional. 00:27:58.009 --> 00:28:00.490 Maintain confidentiality. Don't be the drunk 00:28:00.490 --> 00:28:03.509 HR rep gossiping at the company Christmas party. 00:28:03.630 --> 00:28:06.470 Precisely. Third, duties to your clients and 00:28:06.470 --> 00:28:09.109 employers. Avoid conflicts of interest. Serve 00:28:09.109 --> 00:28:12.250 them faithfully. And fourth, and maybe most importantly, 00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:15.410 duties to individuals. This is the big one. This 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:18.430 is the one. The code says HR must advance dignity, 00:28:18.710 --> 00:28:22.220 equity, and safety. That word dignity is so important. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.160 It implies respect. It implies that even if you 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:27.380 have to do something difficult, like fire someone, 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:29.420 you do it in a way that leaves them with their 00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:32.380 self -worth intact. It does. But look, the field 00:28:32.380 --> 00:28:34.859 is not without its valid criticisms. We can't 00:28:34.859 --> 00:28:36.980 let them off the hook entirely. The source was 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:39.200 pretty blunt here. What are the main knocks against 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:41.960 the HR field as it stands today? One of the biggest 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:44.799 is measurement issues. A systematic review of 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.140 the research found a real lack of clarity in 00:28:47.140 --> 00:28:50.099 how HR systems are actually measured. It's often 00:28:50.099 --> 00:28:52.519 hard to prove the return on investment. How do 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:54.900 you measure something like morale or company 00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:57.819 culture in dollars and cents? It's very, very 00:28:57.819 --> 00:28:59.720 difficult. And there's another interesting finding 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:01.779 about effect size. It found that when you correct 00:29:01.779 --> 00:29:05.099 for the past performance of employees, the perceived 00:29:05.099 --> 00:29:08.720 impact of all this HR management actually decreases. 00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:10.539 Wait, break that down for me. What does that 00:29:10.539 --> 00:29:12.819 mean? It suggests that if you just hire good, 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:15.359 motivated people to begin with, they're going 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:18.180 to do good work. kind of regardless of the specific 00:29:18.180 --> 00:29:21.140 HR policies you throw at them. So good people 00:29:21.140 --> 00:29:23.599 are just good people. The management part might 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.819 matter a lot less than we think. That's the argument. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:28.440 It suggests that selection is maybe more important 00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:30.680 than management. That's got to sting a little 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:34.359 for the HR pros. What about bias? This is a huge 00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:38.019 modern problem, algorithmic bias. As we move 00:29:38.019 --> 00:29:40.200 to those AI recruitment tools we talked about, 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:44.359 we run into a serious problem. If the historical 00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:47.940 data you feed the AI is biased, the tool will 00:29:47.940 --> 00:29:50.519 be biased. So if you feed the computer 10 years 00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:53.259 of resumes where only men got hired for engineering 00:29:53.259 --> 00:29:57.400 jobs. The computer learns that men engineers. 00:29:57.819 --> 00:29:59.539 And then it starts automatically filtering out 00:29:59.539 --> 00:30:02.319 qualified women. Exactly. It doesn't just replicate 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:05.680 the bias of the past. It amplifies it and automates 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.420 it. It's a major ethical challenge. And speaking 00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:11.700 of gender, the source notes that. Women are found 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:14.220 to be overrepresented in the HRM field itself. 00:30:14.500 --> 00:30:17.359 Generally, yes. Yeah. It has become a female 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:19.819 dominated profession, which is an interesting 00:30:19.819 --> 00:30:21.960 demographing detail when you compare to other 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.160 corporate sectors like finance or IT, which are 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:27.940 still heavily male dominated. So before we wrap 00:30:27.940 --> 00:30:30.200 this all up, let's talk careers. If someone listening 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:32.180 is thinking, hey, this is actually fascinating. 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:34.980 I want to be a part of this machine. What does 00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:37.140 that career path look like? It's a huge field. 00:30:37.529 --> 00:30:40.190 The source says there are half a million HR practitioners 00:30:40.190 --> 00:30:43.390 in the U .S. alone. That is a lot of Tobys. And 00:30:43.390 --> 00:30:45.410 a lot of strategic partners. You really have 00:30:45.410 --> 00:30:48.130 a distinction between generalists who work in 00:30:48.130 --> 00:30:49.670 smaller companies and do a bit of everything 00:30:49.670 --> 00:30:52.730 and specialists. And specialists would focus 00:30:52.730 --> 00:30:55.130 on what? They focus on one area like benefits 00:30:55.130 --> 00:30:57.789 administration or talent acquisition or labor 00:30:57.789 --> 00:30:59.430 relations. And at the very top of the ladder. 00:30:59.690 --> 00:31:02.309 At the top, you have the chief HR officer or 00:31:02.309 --> 00:31:05.089 CHRO. They usually report directly to the CEO. 00:31:05.529 --> 00:31:08.230 And that's a key detail, isn't it? It's huge. 00:31:08.430 --> 00:31:10.789 It confirms that in most major organizations 00:31:10.789 --> 00:31:14.849 today, HR is seen as a core strategic role. They 00:31:14.849 --> 00:31:16.789 are in the C -suite. They have a seat at the 00:31:16.789 --> 00:31:19.730 big table. So we have come a very, very long 00:31:19.730 --> 00:31:22.430 way. Let's try to recap this incredible journey. 00:31:22.670 --> 00:31:24.910 It's quite a trajectory, isn't it? We went from 00:31:24.910 --> 00:31:27.450 a few pioneers in the 19th century realizing 00:31:27.450 --> 00:31:30.420 that... Hey, healthy factory workers are actually 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:33.319 better workers. To World War I shell shock teaching 00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:35.519 us about the importance of psychology and the 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.900 fragility of the human mind. To the Soviet Union 00:31:37.900 --> 00:31:41.380 showing us a dark reflection of how human resources 00:31:41.380 --> 00:31:43.799 can be used as a tool for political control. 00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:47.319 To the complex global digital science of talent 00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:49.259 management that we have today. And through it 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:52.210 all. that core tension remains, the challenge 00:31:52.210 --> 00:31:54.910 of managing human capital, the knowledge, the 00:31:54.910 --> 00:31:57.730 skills, the assets, while never forgetting that 00:31:57.730 --> 00:32:00.069 they are, in fact, human beings. That really 00:32:00.069 --> 00:32:02.450 is the key takeaway for me. HR isn't just about 00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:04.609 rules and paperwork. It's about striving for 00:32:04.609 --> 00:32:06.890 that unitarism goal. It's about aligning the 00:32:06.890 --> 00:32:09.490 people with the mission. Yes. And I think for 00:32:09.490 --> 00:32:11.630 you, for the listener, the learner, I would encourage 00:32:11.630 --> 00:32:13.490 you to look at your own HR department a little 00:32:13.490 --> 00:32:15.750 differently after this. How so? Don't just see 00:32:15.750 --> 00:32:18.150 them as the police or the paper pushers. Try 00:32:18.150 --> 00:32:20.099 to see them as the architects of the company's 00:32:20.099 --> 00:32:23.079 culture and strategy. They are, for better or 00:32:23.079 --> 00:32:25.660 worse, building the environment you live in for 00:32:25.660 --> 00:32:27.960 40 hours a week. That is a great perspective. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.960 And to close us out, here is a final provocative 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.509 thought to leave you with. Go for it. The source 00:32:33.509 --> 00:32:36.089 material makes it very clear that modern HR is 00:32:36.089 --> 00:32:38.470 becoming increasingly reliant on algorithms, 00:32:38.730 --> 00:32:42.029 on big data, on virtual management to predict 00:32:42.029 --> 00:32:44.890 turnover and manage performance. We are getting 00:32:44.890 --> 00:32:48.069 better and better at measuring the human input. 00:32:48.210 --> 00:32:51.630 So as we rely more and more on this data to manage 00:32:51.630 --> 00:32:54.730 humans, are we really moving toward a more efficient 00:32:54.730 --> 00:32:58.750 and enlightened future? Or are we accidentally 00:32:58.750 --> 00:33:02.069 circling all the way back to Taylorism? Are we 00:33:02.069 --> 00:33:04.349 starting to view people merely as inputs to be 00:33:04.349 --> 00:33:07.009 optimized by a machine? Except this time the 00:33:07.009 --> 00:33:09.450 machine isn't a guy with a stopwatch. It's an 00:33:09.450 --> 00:33:11.950 AI with a database. That is the big question 00:33:11.950 --> 00:33:14.829 for the next 20 years. Are we using technology 00:33:14.829 --> 00:33:18.170 to optimize humanity or just to optimize the 00:33:18.170 --> 00:33:20.109 output? Something to think about the next time 00:33:20.109 --> 00:33:22.730 you get an automated email from HR. Thanks for 00:33:22.730 --> 00:33:24.309 diving deep with us today. We'll see you next 00:33:24.309 --> 00:33:24.529 time.